Electronic components (e.g., integrated circuits (ICs)) are supplied from vendors in tape-and-reel packaging. Typically, the electronic components are stored in cavities along a feeder tape and covered by a cover tape. The feeder tape is wrapped onto reels similar to movie film being wrapped on to movie reels making for easy storage.
A reel feeder is used to provide access to the electronic components for automated pick-and-place machinery used during the assembly process of Surface Mount Technology (SMT) circuit cards, for example. One of the critical functions of the reel feeder is to peel back the cover tape to expose the electronic components while feeding the electronic parts to the pick-and-place machinery. Any failure to remove the cover tape results in the pick-and-place machinery being unable to pickup the electronic components. Thus the electronic components are lost during processing, leading to elevated levels of electronic component attrition, increased production cost, and delays in production.